Registration 9V-SWL is the newest triple-7 received by SQ on 26 Oct 2007. Looking at the picture posted on 16 Nov, I noticed that the reverser cowling on right GE90 is of a different color indicating a possible replacement. Is there a problem with the thrust reverser units on this high output engine.???

Quoting 747Dreamlifter (Thread starter):Registration 9V-SWL is the newest triple-7 received by SQ on 26 Oct 2007. Looking at the picture posted on 16 Nov, I noticed that the reverser cowling on right GE90 is of a different color indicating a possible replacement. Is there a problem with the thrust reverser units on this high output engine.???

Not any more so than any other aircraft I'm aware of. T/R's are finicky on a good day. Ramp rash is always an option for T/R's (they get hit a lot). It's also possible that they robbed a T/R off this aircraft when it was still in post-delivery check to serve an AOG line aircraft.

Spare T/R's are also really expensive, so they may have swapped the "mint" T/R from the delivery aircraft with an older one in spares so that their spare would be a low hours unit. This type of swap is fairly common with engines and tires as well.

I don't know anything about the GE90, but I do know reversers. A reverser half or translating sleeve change is usually a result of damage from some external source. Rarely do the structural components fail to the point where the half must be replaced.